George Morris, a star football player at Carr Central in the late 1940s who went on to an All-American career at Georgia Tech, died of a heart attack Monday night in North Carolina. He was 76.

Morris, a Vicksburg native, settled in Atlanta after his playing career at Georgia Tech. He remained close to the program and was involved in a number of other athletic endeavors. He served as an executive with the Peach Bowl and was a Southeastern Conference official. At the time of his death, Morris was serving as president of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation.

Funeral arrangements for Morris were not complete at press time.

“Georgia Tech lost part of its heart and soul today,” Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich said in a press release. “George Morris represented everything that is good about Georgia Tech football. The pride that he felt in this institute and its athletic program saw no bounds. The pride we all feel in return for George and what he stood for as a Yellow Jacket and a human being cannot be measured.

“We have truly lost one of the great ones. The entire Georgia Tech athletic community is in mourning.”

Morris was remembered by his Carr Central teammates as a great athlete and down-to-earth person. He played basketball and ran track in addition to football, and excelled in those sports too.

“We were in a playoff tournament for the Big 8 championship. Somebody threw the basketball from way out and he grabbed it out of the air and stuffed it. That was not a common thing in those days,” said Erwin Baylot, who played all three sports with Morris and graduated from Carr Central in 1948. “He was just one of the boys playing. He was a fine person. Very, very witty. He was a great guy on and off the field.”

Football was Morris’ main sport and biggest passion, though.

Carr Central went 31-11 during Morris’ career from 1945-48 and was an All-Big 8 selection.

“He was just a model for a high school student,” said John Hyland, who played football with Morris at Carr Central. “I used to envy George because he was so far ahead of me. He could out-run you, out-think you, and lord could he hit you.”

Morris proved the last part true during his career at Georgia Tech.

Playing both center and linebacker for legendary coach Bobby Dodd, Morris helped turn the Yellow Jackets into a juggernaut in the early 1950s. They went 23-0-1 in 1951 and ’52, winning the national title in 1952. Morris had 114 solo tackles that season, when Tech went 12-0 and beat Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, and earned All-America honors. Morris was also a second-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in 1951, and finished his career with 11 interceptions.

Dodd called Morris the best player he had ever coached. Years later, Morris would have the credentials to prove it.

Morris was a member of the inaugural class of the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame in 1955, named one of Georgia’s top 100 athletes of the 20th century by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and picked to Tech’s all-time team in 1991. He was elected to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.

In 1981, Morris became the first player from Vicksburg elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Former Vicksburg High star Kevin Dent became the second in 2006.